India’s premier business schools, long considered the bastion of graduate engineers, are seeing a rise in the number of non-engineering students qualifying for management courses.

IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Ahmedabad, one of the top business schools in the country, has had the best year so far in academic diversity — three of every 10 students in its 2017-19 class have a non-engineering background. In other IIMs including those at Kozhikode, Lucknow and Indore, non-engineers account for close to 20% of the class strength. Two years ago, about 90% of students at these IIMs were engineers.

The correction in the skewed ratio is in part because of initiatives taken by the institutes two-three years ago. “We do not have any separate quota/weight for gender, but we give certain benefits to non-engineers at the interview call stage,” an IIM Ahmedabad spokesperson said. “There is no such quota in the final selection.” IIM Kozhikode, too, gives weightage for academic diversity at the interview stage.

Sony Thomas, professor at IIM Kozhikode, said, “We give weightage without compromising on the quality of students.” IIM Lucknow has been working towards improving academic diversity in the PGP programmes by giving extra marks.

Companies too are ensuring that the joining workforce is from diverse academic backgrounds. “Diversity in academic background is extremely important.

In a lot of developed economies we have business graduates from diverse backgrounds including social sciences,” said Saugata Gupta, managing director at Marico, a consumer goods maker. “We need a fair balance between creativity, innovation and analytical thinking for the leaders of tomorrow and Marico is actively seeking that balance.”Saugata Gupta, managing director at Marico, a consumer goods maker. “We need a fair balance between creativity, innovation and analytical thinking for the leaders of tomorrow and Marico is actively seeking that balance.”

Auditing firm Deloitte started its efforts to hire more from non-accounting and non-engineering backgrounds about three years ago. “This year, we are hiring close to 30% from non-engineering and non-accounting backgrounds,” said SV Nathan, chief talent officer at Deloitte in India.nonaccounting and non-engineering backgrounds about three years ago. “This year, we are hiring close to 30% from non-engineering and non-accounting backgrounds,” said SV Nathan, chief talent officer at Deloitte in India.

India is known globally for producing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent. “Passion for engineering is a very Indian phenomenon.

In other countries, such tight parental control on subject choice is not there, and hence good students pursue what they like,” pointed out the spokesperson of IIM Ahmedabad.

“This kind of diversity prevents the class being getting stereotyped. CAT is an exam where majority of the test takers are engineers. If you go to the top percentiles, it is further skewed towards engineers. Hence, deliberate attempt is taken to increase the proportion of non-engineers tom promote diversity in class,” said Thomas.

IIM Indore has a five-year Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) in place wherein students can join straight after completing their 12th grade. The fourth and fifth years of IPM are common with its two-year post graduate programme in management.Programme in Management (IPM) in place wherein students can join straight after completing their 12th grade. The fourth and fifth years of IPM are common with its two-year post graduate programme in management.

“Since we have the IPM integrated with IPM integrated with PGP, this ensures that 20-22% of the class comprises nonengineers. In addition, we have non-engineers who qualify for nonengineers. In addition, we have non-engineers who qualify for PGP. So, overall, we have a good level of academic diversity in the PGP programme,” said programme,” said IIM Indore’s director, Rishikesha T Krishnan.Rishikesha T Krishnan.